Cloudious9 Review

Don’t hate me, but part of my job includes smoking weed. I’m not even going to lie to you to sugar coat it--it’s pretty great and I’m lucky to work for a company that makes a product I genuinely really enjoy. AbsoluteXtracts carries 18 different strains of vape cartridges, but did you know (along with other great products) they also carry sun-grown cannabis flower? I decided I needed to dive lungs first into the flower we offer, but I quickly realized after only vaping oil for so long I didn’t quite enjoy smoking like I used to, and my lungs were left feeling like they stayed out in the hot sun for too long.

Looking up healthier ways to smoke, I started finding really cool vaporizer tech, and when a vaporizer caught my eye that was a cross between a vaporizer and water bong, I had to try it. It spoke to the health benefits of both vaping and having water as a filtration for heavier particles and ash. Thankfully, the nice people at Hydrology9 sent us one to try, and I got to spend a week testing it out. (I mentioned how great my job is, right?)

The Cloudious9 is a liquid filtration vaporizer that aims to reinvent vaporizing. The coolest thing about this is the look. It seriously looks rad. I kept it on my desk for a week and people were stopping in their tracks to come see what this was. Hydrology9 says they have an “obsessive focus on aesthetic design” and that comes through in the design. It looks like a sci-fi smoking device we’ll have on a future mission to find habitable planets. We’ve been calling it the iPhone of vaporizers--it just has that “wow” factor.

So how did it measure up on my cloud score? I break down my reviews into 7 parts: ease of use, portability/desk appeal, taste, hit-ability, battery life, quality, and overall rating.

‍Right out of the box, we were a little confused. There’s a quick start paper that we went off of, and proceeded to get water EVERYWHERE. The button features and light indicators took a little getting used their videos on how to use it (perfect for filling the time before it gets delivered), because it took us a bit of trial and error to figure it out. However, once you’ve got it figured out, it’s super easy to use.

One downside is that I personally like to clean it out after each use. The Hydrology9 team says this isn’t necessary between uses, but I thought the water was too stinky after each use (more on that below). Thankfully, there are only six pieces, so when I’ve taken it apart to clean it dries pretty quickly.

The Cloudious9 looks cool on my desk. It’s sleek, futuristic, and definitely something I wouldn’t mind having out in my living room. To be clear, while Hydrology9 says the Cloudious9 is a portable device, it’s too large to fit in your pocket, and I wouldn’t want to throw it into a backpack or purse without the case that’s sold separately.

And the visual effects? Super cool. One coworker said, “Woah, it’s like smoking out of a lava lamp.” And during a smoke sesh with friends, they asked me to turn down the lights and turn on the Cloudious9’s party mode light feature. It’s just a fun piece to have around.

We were packing AbsoluteXtracts Blue Dream, and if there’s one thing the Cloudious9 really excels at it’s a smooth and clean tasting hit. One of the smartest features is a little hook on the inside of the base that stirs your flower. This creates an even vape so the taste of the flower will come through during your entire vape session.

One cloud was taken off because of the stinky water. We found towards the end of the session there was a distinct smell (there was definitely a “who made that smell” moment), that ruined the taste a bit. But if you keep it clean, it’s not really an issue.

For us, the hitability was an issue. You don’t get huge hits, which was a bummer and made sharing with a group a little difficult since smaller hits made people want to hit it again...and again (Hey! Don’t bogart the buds!).

You have to hit the Cloudious9 slow and hard, and sometimes you aren’t sure if you got anything. We found it hit a little easier when we turned the stirrer while we were hitting it, but that can feel a little awkward. When I reached out to Hydrology9 about this they recommended I clean the passages. After that didn’t help I hit the web. Many reviewers said there was an adjustable part inside the air intake, but after a little tinkering, nothing was happening to mine. I reached out to Hydrology9 again (are you sick of me yet?) and they said this was a feature on the original version but had since been removed.

When we got the Cloudious9 I gave it a full charge and we got three uses out of it, we definitely had fun passing it around and playing with the light features so we probably used more battery than three normal sessions. I was excited to bring it home for my partner to try but was bummed when I packed the heating chamber and realized the battery was dead. Thankfully, it comes with a short and long charging cable that works plugged into your computer or wall (the light indicators while charging are also very easy to understand).

This is where the Cloudious9 really shines. This vaporizer screams “high-quality.” It’s got a hefty weight to it, but I feel like if I dropped it, it wouldn’t break. I call this my breakability test because I don’t trust myself around fragile items (especially when I’m smoking). I appreciate that every piece has a point, they didn’t add any extra pieces that make it feel flimsy and everything has a purpose.

Also in the box are extra silicon rings for the mouth piece, a nice tool kit that includes two brushes, a residue pick to improve airflow, and a flathead screwdriver with what looks like a cuticle pusher on the other end (I’m not sure what that really does, but I like to use it to pack in my ground-up flower).

Overall: 3.5/5

Pros:

Wow-factor

Clean and smooth taste

Healthier than smoking

Light features

Cons:

Not easy to use right out of the box

Hard to hit

Price

Overall, I enjoyed the Cloudious9. As the kind of person who loves playing with new tech AND smoking weed, this is a win-win. The price tag is a little daunting at $250, but worth it if you like smoking flower but are seriously concerned with the health risks of smoking. This would also make a really cool gift for that health-conscious techy in your life.

Hydrology9 recently had a deal where if you buy a Cloudious9 you get a free carrying case. Since the carrying case alone is $50 I really think that adds to the overall value and makes that $250 a little easier to part with.